Just Good Friends
by DaydreamerNightwriter
Summary: A series of One Shots about Will and Deanna's relationship, marked as complete because I don't know when I'll be able to do another. Formerly posted as Friends
1. After the Poker Game

I just finished watching All Good Things, and as my mind tends to it wandered off to one side to see how I could play, and this is what it came up with. It's set just after the poker game at the end of the episode, and goes a bit into the future but before Worf leaves for DS9. Unbeta'd and probably imperfect. Enjoy and please review! C x

* * *

Commander William T Riker stood at the window of his quarters, staring out at the stars, the open emptiness that surrounded the only place he had called home for many years. All this had nearly been lost, due to one action by an almost malevolent being. Q's trial of humankind had begun seven years ago on his first voyage on the _Enterprise_ and earlier today, as he had just been informed, the trial had nearly ended all human existence. What he had learned from what Jean Luc had told them was that perhaps a time came to give up and move on, in relation to certain relationships that were developing on board ship. The entry bell chimed.

'Come' he called, gruffly, it could only be one person. The door slid open and she hesitated on the doorstep. 'If you're coming in, then come in. don't let all the heat out.' He said, softly, using the phrase his father had always used, the one that made her laugh. An attempt to lighten the mood. Put them both at their ease. There was no laugh. Just a rustle as she walked through the door. He heard her sit down at the table that still held the remnants of the poker game. Not on the sofa. That was how far it had gone; she didn't curl on his sofa in the way she had always done. Would probably never do it again. A image of her curled on a metal chair, with Klingon weaponry behind her, flitted into his mind, and he banished it as quickly as it had appeared.

'Imzadi…' she began.

'Should you be calling me that?' he asked her, not unkindly, but not kindly either. Even to him his voice sounded dead.

'Will, I've always called you Imzadi.' She replied, he could hear the shock and pain in her voice and hated himself for causing it. 'It doesn't matter what happens, between us or between us and other people. You are and always will be my Imzadi.' She sounded sure of herself. He wanted to scream at her, _but I'm not, because you don't sit on the sofa anymore._ And then realised how stupid that sounded. 'Worf and I…'

'Are in a relationship.' He finished for her. 'I know. And don't worry, I'm fine with it all. Actually, I'm taking one of the new lieutenants to Ten Forward tomorrow.' And winced. She was an empath, would know he was lying. There wasn't a sound behind him.

'You and Worf…' she started a moment or two later.

'Can maintain our professionalism, I don't want our relationship to deteriorate as much as the Captain said it had in his future visions.' Again, no response. He wanted to turn around, look at her, but he was hurting and couldn't do it. The chair scraped back.

'Well then, I should leave you to your sleep, you are on duty in 10 hours.' The doors opened and he span in time to see the dark hair disappear into the corridor. He stopped himself from following her.

* * *

He was standing in the window again. It was much later, months in fact. He'd just risen to check his padd before going on duty. This week's lucky someone was still asleep in the bed behind him. Not this week's, he corrected himself. He'd been seeing Lieutenant Weatherby for almost a month now. A hairbrush covered in her red hair sat next to his comb on the side in the shower-room, her toothbrush knocked heads with his in the glass next to the mirror. The door chimed.

'Come' he called out, not looking around. The door slide open and stayed like that.

'Am I disturbing you?' a feminine voice asked. He turned to see Deanna standing dishevelled in the doorway. He cast a guilty glance towards the bedroom, and shook his head.

'Not at all.' He smiled as she came in. She glanced at the table, strewn with the remnants of the meal he had shared with Weatherby, and walked past it to sit in her old spot on the sofa, curling her legs up and tucking her feet beneath her like a cat. Her hair was tied back but strands strayed free, her eyes were smudged with black and tears. Instinctively he went to the Replicator, stopping at the table to scoop up the mess and dispose of it before ordering. 'Chocolate, Mayan, hot, sweet. Brownie, chocolate-fudge, hot, cream. Latte, hot, sugar. American Muffin, apple and sultana.' He lifted the tray of items that appeared and carried them to the coffee table before darting into the bedroom to grab the fleeced blanket that no one else ever used and then, sitting next to her, tucked it around them both. She sighed and snuggled in closer to him, and he put an arm around her shoulders. 'Is everything ok?' he asked.

'Not really.' She replied, with cream on her nose. 'Worf and I decided that it was time to call it a day. Things weren't really working out.' He nodded, had seen it coming for a while, well, maybe hoped it would happen. He reached down to her nose and wiped the cream off it before kissing the top of her head.

'Do you need to talk?' he asked, feeling odd and foolish that he was asking the ships counsellor if she needed counselling. She shook her head.

'No, I, I just missed you.' She looked up as Helen Weatherby walked in, wrapped in the bed sheets that she had bought Will in an attempt to make the room more homely. 'Oh.' That was it, the only reaction she made.

'Will, I heard voices…' Weatherby trailed off and checked herself by the door. 'Counsellor.'

'Good evening Lieutenant. I'm sorry I wasn't aware Will wasn't alone.' Deanna said, sitting up and looking uncomfortable now.

'No, no, it's...' she left the sentence open and he winced inwardly. 'I should go anyway, duty calls and all that.' She disappeared into the room and reappeared hurriedly, fully dressed. 'Good bye, Counsellor. Commander.' The door fssshed and she was gone.

'Will.' Deanna admonished him. 'You should have told me she was here.'

'Why?' he asked, trying to capture some schoolboy charm in his tone.

'Well, because that was a _goodbye_ goodbye.'

'Oh, was it? Never mind, wasn't working out anyway.' He grinned at her, and she batted him around the head.

'Honestly.' She murmured, settling down against him again and taking another sip of the hot chocolate. 'Can I sleep here on the sofa tonight?' she asked him.

'Of course Imzadi, it's your sofa. And it's nice to have things back to normal. I missed this.' He grinned again, and then the grin slipped into a contented smile as she giggled against his chest. He adjusted the light setting with a few words, and they settled down to chat and listen to a concert Data had put on a few nights before. Yes, he thought, it was nice to have things back to normal; she was sitting on the sofa.


	2. A King and his Queens

Part two... not really in any particular order, this one is somewhere during the series I think, but doesn't refer to anything specific so it could be any time before Insurrection.

Don't own any of it, just having a little fun. Changed the rating for this one, but kept the smut to a minimum... its only really there for Riker to have his revelation. Enjoy.

* * *

The girl beneath him writhed and giggled in what he was sure she thought was an alluring and sultry way. Inwardly he grimaced, this could only be described as a mistake. Yes, she was attractive but it hadn't taken him long to discover that there was nothing hidden under that attractiveness. It had taken him the time it took to eat the soup that she had served in fact. No hidden depths just an attractive woman, a foolish girl, he corrected himself then a thought surprised him. She was Katherine Howard to his Henry VIII, tempting, pretty, a tease but ultimately a mistake. But he might as well finish the mistake, he thought before checking her complexion, her cheeks and breasts were flushed, she was close to her climax. Good, time to end this. He let himself relax and the orgasm he had gallantly been holding off in an attempt to be a gentleman flowed over him, his thrusts became more erratic and it was only after he had rolled off her and regained his senses that he decided that it was all wrong, he shouldn't have come back to hers for a coffee. He looked at her guiltily and sighed.

"I'm sorry but…" he started to say quietly to her.

"It's alright. I know, you shouldn't have done that, you're my commanding officer etc." She looked at him and he glanced away, at the clock, then leaned up on one elbow.

"I have some time before my shift. Do you want me to go?" He asked her.

"Yes, you probably should." She said a little sadly and he got out of the bed and replaced the covers over her. He dressed swiftly and turned to leave. As he went to walk out the door she called out.

"Commander! Thank you for this evening, it was nice." He smiled at her, a little sadly, a little ironically.

"I'm sorry it didn't work..."

"I'm not who you're looking for. See you on the bridge Commander." She rolled over to face the other wall and he left quietly, heading to his quarters to catch a bit of sleep before he was due back on shift.

* * *

In the morning, about halfway through his shift he hailed Deanna whilst studying some new duty rostas.

"Riker to Troi, do you fancy dinner this evening?" as she replied he could hear the smile in her voice.

"Bored of the latest conquest already? Dinner would be lovely, yours or mine?"

"Mine, at about 20:00?"

"That's fine, see you then commander."

* * *

"I've been having some odd thoughts." He told after they had eaten and retired to the sofa to eat chocolate ice cream.

"Really? Am I Deanna now, or did you trick me into coming so you could put my counsellor Troi hat on me." she teased him.

"You're Deanna, Deanna." He replied, flicking her with a little chocolate sauce which she licked off quickly.

"Mmm yum. So, odd thoughts, do tell."

"Well, I was with Yarrick last night…"

"Oh God Will, I don't want to hear your trophy stories!" she cried out, flicking some chocolate at him.

"Oh no, nothing like that. Anyway, I was, you know, with Yarrick, as in with _with_."

"Oh, with _with_…" Deanna said solemnly.

"You know what I mean." He replied.

"No, I'm afraid you are going to have to explain yourself." She replied innocently, hiding her smile at his blushes.

"Well I was in bed with her, and we were doing, having, well you know, anyway, I suddenly start thinking about it. Yarrick is a pathological flirt. She's a tease, and that's it, there is literally nothing else there. Which isn't unusual in itself, but then it develops into another thought where we're British historical figures, like she's Katherine Howard to my Henry VIII." She burst out laughing.

"Wait wait wait, let me make sure I've got this. You compared yourself to _Henry VIII_?" he glared at her insulted. She sobered, trying to control the laughter, but then gasped "Henry the eighth?" he had a sinking feeling that he was never going to live this one down. He didn't like to expand on his thoughts any further… telling Deanna at this point that if Yarrick was his Katherine Howard then she was the equivalent to Jane Seymour didn't seem that brilliant an idea.

* * *

It was much later that he let his mind expand on that idea, whilst assessing that months crew evals. First wondering where all this Henry VIII stuff had come from anyway he wondered, and then remembered, the ancient Earth film they had watched together a week ago – _The Private Life of Henry VIII_ – and then thinking about his theory on his and Deanna's relationship. Jane Seymour had been the ideal wife to Henry VIII, the one who hadn't let him down because she died before she had time to. She was the one against which all the others were measured, no one could match her. Deanna was that to him. It wasn't a conscious thing, it just was like that, all the girls he dated never lasted because he couldn't have the fun he did with Deanna. Maybe Deanna was _the one_ for him?

He shook his head abruptly, that was foolish thinking. They were friends, that was all. She was always there but that was just their way and in that way, he surmised, she _was_ his Jane Seymour.


End file.
